CN|2 Politics

Senate Republican leaders plan to press forward with a vote on the constitutional amendment to allow casino gambling on Thursday over the request of the measure’s sponsor and Democratic leader to delay because two Democrats likely to support the bill will be absent. Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, and Sen. R.J. Palmer, the Democratic leader from Winchester, told Pure Politics that they asked Republican floor leader Robert Stivers not to call Senate Bill 151 for a vote on Thursday. Sen. Gerald... Read more 

(UPDATED WITH VIDEO) A proposed constitutional amendment to allow casino gambling will make it to the Senate floor for the first time after the senate state government committee approved it 7 to 4 on Wednesday. The proposed constitutional amendment to allow expanded gambling in Kentucky now calls for seven casino licenses open to any entity but leaves in place the buffer barring free-standing casinos from being 60 miles from a horse racetrack. Voting for it: Republican Sens: Jimmy Higdon, John... Read more 

Gov. Steve Beshear, who is a member of the Kentucky State Fair Board, said there are ongoing discussions about the future of the board’s executive director Harold Workman but declined to say whether he wants Workman out. “I know that various fair board members have been discussing Mr. Workman’s future and the future of the fair board,” Beshear told Pure Politics and WHAS-11’s Joe Arnold after the governor testified in favor of a bill to allow casinos on Wednesday. But when... Read more 

(UPDATED WITH MORE DEBATE) — Gov. Steve Beshear and Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, revised one portion of the constitutional amendment to allow casino gambling to allow up to seven casino licenses without limiting any to horse race tracks. The first draft called for up to five licenses for tracks and two other free-standing casinos. But the latest version of the measure, which is being debated in the Senate state government committee Wednesday afternoon, keeps in place a buffer so that... Read more 

Republicans in the seven-candidate field for the 4th Congressional District are bracing for a sprint to the nomination that will likely attract outside groups, known as “Super PACs.” One of the candidates, Lewis County Judge-Executive Thomas Massie, said he had heard “rumors” of potential deep-pocketed donors looking to start independent campaign groups to get involved in the race in support of a particular candidate, potentially even for him. “We’re certainly not directing one or encouraging anybody to do one, but I... Read more 

Former Kentucky governor and current University of Pikeville President Paul Patton told lawmakers Tuesday that numbers make the best case for why the state should absorb the college into the public university system. Patton testified before the House Education Committee armed with a host of statistics showing the gulf in educational attainment in the area surrounding the 1,100-student college. But some legislators on the panel, which did not take a vote on the proposal Tuesday, still maintain that what... Read more 

Republican candidate for Congress Andy Barr plans to highlight slow economic recovery in part of the 6th District on a tour this spring of the counties with higher-than-average unemployment rates, including the seven new counties to the district. Among his first stops will be Tuesday’s opening of the new Fleming County judicial center in Flemingsburg — a $13. 5 million project funded by the state government bonds. Barr has criticized government spending and debt, specifically the federal stimulus money through... Read more